This invention relates generally to lids and spouts for beverage serving containers, and particularly to a cap having an integral spout and push-button valve means which may be inserted into the open top of an insulated beverage server used in commercial and institutional settings.
Beverage serving containers of the type shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. 184,715 have been used in restaurants and similar settings for over thirty years. This beverage serving container incorporates a receptacle portion having a twin-walled structure with thermal insulating foam injected therebetween, a wide-rimmed pouring spout, a pivotably hinged lid, and a handle. The lid acts as a thermal barrier to retain the heat of a liquid--such as coffee or tea--placed in the container, and may be pivoted open for pouring by pressure on the thumb pad which is situated adjacent to the top of the handle. The basic design and operation of these beverage serving containers has remained substantially unchanged throughout this thirty year span.
Many other insulated beverage servers have been introduced since U.S. Design Pat. No. 184,715 issued, these other insulated beverage servers having a twin-wall construction and insulating foam therebetween, but each insulated server having a substantially unique outward design or appearance. Such insulated beverage servers have been the subject of numerous design patents, and representative examples may be seen in the insulated servers manufactured and marketed by: Vollrath Co. of Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Rubbermaid Co. of Winchester, Virginia; Cambro Co. of Huntington Beach, California; and Continental Carlisle Co. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Other beverage serving containers include glass or rigid plastic open-topped water pitchers having curved, recessed, or out-turned pouring lip portions along the rim. These pouring lips are generally situated on the front of the pitcher opposite the handle, although they may be placed anywhere along the rim. Water pitchers of this design are presently marketed under many names and by many firms, one such being the Bouncer II.RTM. Carb-x.RTM. pitcher from Rubbermaid Co. Other types of water pitchers, these also being molded from plastic but having enclosed spouts, are well known. Pitchers of this kind are currently marketed under the names Tempo, Flair, and Stonelook by Vollrath Co.
Another type of pitcher is molded from flexible plastic with a partially enclosed pouring spout extending from the front of the pitcher wall adjacent to the rim. A lid having a downwardly depending skirt portion defining one or more pouring or straining apertures is inserted into the open top of the pitcher, and the lid may then be rotated within the pitcher to align the desired aperture with the pouring spout. Such pitchers are commonly used with juices and other beverages mixed from concentrates or powders, and may be found in many household and institutional settings. Such pitchers are currently marketed as Economy Pitchers by Rubbermaid Co.
Coffee pots, teapots, and formal servers made from metal or ceramic and having enclosed curved, fluted, or tubular pouring spouts extending from the midsection of the receptacle wall, hinged lids, and handles are also relatively well known. Representative examples of such pots and servers are depicted in U.S. Design Pat. No. 287,213 (in which the spout is not completely enclosed) and the Gooseneck Servers currently marketed by Vollrath Co.
These pitchers, pots, and single-wall servers are subject to several drawbacks. They seldom have any notable thermal insulating properties, and will not retain the heat of a beverage for any extended period if left sitting at room temperatures. The hinged lids of many of the servers, while providing some thermal barrier, still permit a great deal of steam and heat to escape around the edges of the lids. Such servers are suited more for use with cold beverages, where the entire server may be placed within a refrigerator, and removed only periodically for use.
Although many of the articles are suitable for use in households, they do not possess the structural integrity or resiliency to be used in commercial or institutional settings where they are subjected to continual rough handling, frequently being dropped, and repeated cleaning. Moreover, these articles cannot withstand the high water temperatures--on the order of 180 to 210 degrees F.--present in commercial dishwashers and required by law in many states to properly clean and sterilize the receptacles and spouts.
The majority of these serving containers, due to their design and the requisites of the manufacturing processes used to form them, are also not aesthetically acceptable for use in commercial or institutional settings such as restaurants or hotels where the servers may routinely be left unattended on the tables for long periods of time, and are often used by the customer or employee rather than trained food service personnel.
The wide spouts or shallow recessed lips in the rims of several of these containers make them difficult to accurately pour beverages from, and often result in spills or overflows unless used cautiously.
Another important drawback common to several of these serving containers is the danger that each, if accidentally overturned or tipped, may spill their contents onto the tabletop and persons seated thereabouts. In such cases where the beverage is hot coffee or tea, the frequent result is serious burns to those individuals, and accompanying exposure to legal liability on the part of the owners of the establishments, the manufacturers, and sellers of the servers. The containers having hinged lids or open spouts cannot be adequately sealed. Those pitchers which have closures to seal the spout may not have a sufficiently secure method of fastening the lid in place, or make it contingent upon the user to ensure that the closure is sealed after each pouring, thus defeating the reliability of any such sealing measures.
Insulated beverage storage and carrying containers, such as those commonly found under the brand name "Thermos" and referred to commonly as vacuum bottles, offer a means of tightly sealing the open top of the insulated receptacle portion with a resilient plastic screw-on cap. Such a design is useful for people who carry a meal with them to work or school, or for recreational purposes, but have generally not proven suitable for use in serving beverages in dining establishments or in the household.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 286,732 discloses a vacuum jug having a pouring handle, a spout formed as an integral part of the container wall, and a cap which is threadedly received into the open neck of the container. To open and close this vacuum jug, it is necessary to turn or unscrew the threaded cap of the container, which then aligns a valve opening or tunnel in the bottom of the lid with the spout.
A similarly styled insulated serving pitcher, marketed under the name of "Krups Kanne" by Krup Co. of Germany, also utilizes a threaded cap which is inserted into the open neck of a container, and has an enclosed spout integrally molded into the top of the container rim. Rather than having a valve aperture, however, the bottom of the cap has a smooth, semicircular surface with an annular silicone gasket. The inner wall of the container neck is formed to match the curvature of the bottom surface, such that a fluid-tight seal is formed between the inner wall of the container neck and the semicircular surface and gasket just below the spout. To open the container for pouring, the cap is unscrewed slightly to create a gap between the bottom surface of the cap and the inner wall of the container neck, and may remain in this position after use.
Another type of insulated server--commonly referred to as an air pot or pump pot--incorporates an enclosed spout located near the top of the container, and a syphon pump which dispenses the liquid through the spout when the user presses down on the lid of the container. A representative example of such an air pot is the "Diamond Airpot" manufactured by Dia Vacuum Bottle Ind. Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong.
Such pump pots are limited, however, by their need to be rested on a supporting surface when used. There are also difficulties in disassembling, refilling, and cleaning the internal components on the pump mechanism and receptacle. These limitations make the pump pot containers unsuitable for use as a beverage server in commercial or institutional settings where they may be carried between tables by a waiter or waitress pouring beverages with one hand, and must refill the containers rapidly and frequently.
Serving pitchers closely resembling the pump pot and vacuum bottle type containers, but having a slide or push-button controlled valve and an enclosed spout molded into the top of the receptacle wall, are also known. One representative product having a push-button controlled valve is the "Thermique" brand server from Corning Glass Works, although many manufacturers have developed servers which operate in a similar manner, and have a widely varying range of appearances.
In these pitchers, the valves are actuated either by turning a portion of the lid to orient the valve aperture with the pouring spout or by depressing the lid or a centrally located push button. In each case, the valve aperture may be locked or left open by the user, and the enclosed pouring spout is formed from two or more connecting portions of the container wall and rim which are molded together.
The position of the valve control in the center of the lid on several of these pitchers makes it necessary to use two hands when dispensing a beverage, one hand to grasp the handle and tilt the server, and the other hand to actuate the valve. The construction of such containers, as in the case of the pump pots, makes them difficult to use with automatic refilling machines since the cover must be disassembled each time before the receptacle portion is placed beneath the refill spout, and reassembled thereafter.
One vacuum bottle, the "Coffee at a Touch" vacuum server manufactured by Dia Co., has a push-button control which is located at the rear portion of the lid above the handle, making the push button accessible to the thumb of the hand holding the vacuum bottle.
These servers, particularly those which have a vacuum liner or rotation type valve, have relatively slim necks and thus even smaller diameter valve apertures. The maximum displacement of the valve member from the valve aperture is similarly quite narrow. Consequently, the maximum flow rate which may be achieved with such a server is proportionately limited.
Because the spouts are attached to or molded as part of the receptacle portion, these containers have many recesses surrounding the top rim which make properly cleaning the containers a difficult proposition. Automatic dishwashing machines are used in many institutional settings, with the servers being inverted, set on racks, and spray washed several times each day. In this situation, the enclosed, rim-mounted pouring spouts preclude adequate spray washing and prevent proper drainage or drying.
Further, since the spouts and valve assemblies are distinct components (the valve assemblies being connected to the lid while the spout is attached to the receptacle wall) the lids must be threaded into the top of the pitcher by several rotations in order to assure a fluid-tight seal between the valve and spout. When the lids must be removed and reattached between each use or each time the container is washed, which may occur several times an hour in an institutional setting, this method for attaching the lid to the receptacle becomes inconvenient and time consuming.
Another type of serving apparatus is the free-standing plastic or steel tankard, which has a spout and push button or lever-operated valve located at the bottom of a large capacity tank. Because this capacity is on the order of five or more gallons, these tankards cannot be carried or used to pour, and further cannot be washed using conventional commercial dishwashers. Examples of such tankards include Thermovats by Continental Carlisle Co. and Camtainers by Cambro Co.
It should be noted that the majority of beverage serving containers have the pouring spouts situated opposite the handle, so that the spout faces the front of the container with the handle being attached to the rear of the container. Such a configuration is not biomechanically efficient for people who must serve beverages from a standing position behind or between customers. It is common in this situation to see the person pour from the sides of an open top pitcher, even when that pitcher has no pouring lip on the sides of the rim.
Waiters and waitresses become very proficient at pouring from the sides of such open-top pitchers, and can accurately fill cups and glasses from a great height, both forehandedly and backhandedly, whereas such accuracy cannot be achieved when pouring from the front of a conventional pitcher. When using pitchers having lids or enclosed spouts, however, it is necessary for the person to pivot the pitcher around in their hand between a forehand and backhand position. This requires that the handle of the pitcher be balanced on the side of the index finger, and then gripped by the weakest portion of the fingers furthest from the palm, such that the person has little leverage to support the pitcher and little control over the pouring rate. This can be the cause of many spills and dropped containers. Moreover, the process of pivoting the server in this manner is inconvenient, takes additional time and effort, distracts the customer, and appears unprofessional--each factor being a significant consideration for those managing establishments where swift and proficient service is both expected and prided.
Some oriental porcelain teapots, particularly those having handles which extend horizontally straight out from the side of the pot, have an enclosed gooseneck-type spout positioned on one side of the pot, in much the same way as the oriental tea ladle is designed. While displaying some biomechanical utility when compared to teapots where the handle and spout are positioned on opposite sides, such a design presents the disadvantage of not being able to pivot the teapot to serve in both a forehand and backhand manner.